Front-runners remain same for district races

New unofficial election results released Thursday changed nothing in state Assembly District 76, where incumbent San Diego Democrat Brian Maienschein holds a little more than 50 percent of the vote, or in any of the other local assembly races.

Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane continues to hold 27 percent and Del Sur Republican June Cutter has 22 percent in District 76, so it appears Bruce-Lane is headed for the November election with Maienschein, according to the latest numbers from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters Office.

Twice elected previously in District 77, Maienschein now is in District 76 because of redistricting. The recently remapped boundaries include San Marcos, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe and San Pasqual.

San Diego County has seven open state Assembly seats and the field of candidates in only three — Districts 76, 79 and 80 — will be narrowed by Tuesday’s primary election. Those races each have three or more candidates, and only the top two vote-getters in each advance to the general election.

In District 79, which includes parts of East County, incumbent Akilah Weber, D-La Mesa, continued to hold 64 percent of the early results. Her two challengers, both Republicans, are Corbin Sabol with 24 percent and John Moore with more than 11 percent, so it appears Weber will face Sabol in November.

In San Diego County’s other Assembly districts, there were only two candidates each in Tuesday’s primary, and they will automatically advance to the general election.

Marie Waldron, R-Escondido, first elected in 2012 to Assembly District 75, faces one opponent, Randy Voepel, R-Santee, first elected in 2016 in District 71. The recent redistricting placed Voepel’s home in the redrawn District 75, which covers Fallbrook, Valley Center, Ramona, Poway and Lakeside. Waldron had 63 percent and Voepel 37 percent in the earliest returns, and the percentage was unchanged Thursday.

Tasha Boerner Horvath, D-Encinitas, served two terms in the 76th District and now finds herself running for re-election in the 77th District because of the realignment. Her only opponent is Dan Downey, R-Point Loma, in an area stretching along the coast from Carlsbad to Coronado. Boerner Horvath had 61 percent over Downey’s 39 percent.